Thank you both for your replies! I never even thought of vet records or chips, etc., thank you golddust!!! I think the people had to sell their house and get an apartment so they don't have a choice as no pets allowed. But everything happens for a reason I guess so at least in this case, it's a happy ending. I think they are just so happy they don't have to put him in a shelter and they "got to pick" who takes him home. That will at least help them with the sad part of giving him up. I will have her ask for a receipt, as silly as it sounds! (I was thinking a "bill of sale" when I was posting!). I was thinking of the "stolen" factor too, even though I don't think they'd do that. I agree, you just never know. I am so excited, I can't wait to meet her!! *p.s. It's nice to see you, auntjen! you were missed!!

Since I now have a Shepard/Hound, along with two other large mutts, and have previously had a Shepard/Lab, I know what you are talking about. You don't mention if the dog/dogs are male or female. If they are working out the dominance issue, you as the ultimate alpha dog need to be a part of this. Watch carefully how they play and act with each other. When one goes submissive, that is probably the start of the pack authority. Whoever is on top, start to treat that one like the top dog (feed first, attention first, out the door first, everything first). Shepherds are known for the type of behavior you describe. They are one person dogs, and latch on to you. You have only had Frank for a short while. He is confused. Do you know his background? It sounds to me like he is suffering from some sort of trauma. If he was bounced around between rescue leagues or temporary homes, he is frightened. I had this experience with my 4 month old Shepard/Hound last January. She was completely traumatized by events that took place since she was born. I am still dealing with her shyness and am told that she may never get over it. Try making going out fun. I discovered boiled chicken liver is best when trying to get the dogs attention for training or other things. Dogs crave it, and to me it's well worth it. You really have their attention when you use it. Just offer little pieces to Frank. If he goes for it to fast like he is going to take off you fingers, toss it on the ground and make a trail out the door. You really must assert your alpha dog status with Frank. He is looking at you as another dog in his pack for guidance. He is trying to find his place, get used to new things like sounds, sights, everything might be new to him, It could take a couple of months before he is secure knowing that he is in a permanent good home. There are numerous books out there that can also help you. I have "The Monks of New Skete" for pups and older dogs. Finally, something I discovered the hard way. If you are doing something to correct behavior, and you have done it for a while and it isn't working, you must try something else. Not all dogs respond to the same correction techniques. Good luck! You sound like you have a wonderful addition to you family! SG

Don't know that much about JRT, but my labradors' breeder has Jack Russells as her pets. She is a very discipline oriented person. She has these dogs trained very well, but has commented on the committment and time is tremendous to train properly. It is really funny, I just said to my husband that I wasn't sure if I wanted another puppy from Diane because my boys jumped up and down for months when we first got them (a total JRT trait). If you decide you can manage keeping this dog and committing to training him maybe an obediance class with the participation of all family members would be a good thing. I know people who do this off premises like at Petsmart and the like for not too much expense. We use a private trainer in our area who has classes, but we like her to come to the house a couple of times to deal with issues directly related to us. It was so worth the charge for her to come to the house once or twice for an hour. She could observe us and the dogs, the dynamic and give suggestions (all of which we have implemented). There were also no other distractions we got individual attention and that was good for us. We also work on socializing our dogs with people and other pets. We are a big family of dog owners and we all have each other's dogs at one time or another sometimes up to 6 at a time in my yard. No issues, they chase each other around and the like, but never bite or hurt one another. The just play like they have been living together their entire lives. My youngest lab chases every cat that we have. The youngest who just arrived in July was scared of him at first and I gated my daughter's room so that he had a place to escape to, but now that he's older when he is being chased he doesn't run he stands up on his back feet and hisses and swats at the dog, the dog always gives up. Telling my dog no to chasing the cats would definitely fall on deaf ears. Is the pooping thing a diarreha situation or just plain pooping? What did the shelter tell you about the dog's history. I know alot of times they either don't know or the person who gave the dog up doesn't give all the info needed for fear no one will adopt their discarded dog. As for leashing. I am all for that. I use gentle leader when I train my dogs. It is very funny the difference in behavior once you put it on. Crazy dog becomes calm dog. I don't believe in the choker chain. I know alot of people use them, just have seen bad things happen with misuse or uninformed use. Our trainer had us use a harness on the puppies with a lead about 6 foot long for beginning training. My guys were stuck to my side when I didn't have them out playing or exercising. It can get crazy when you are attached to a dog for that number of hours, but it was worth every minute because I have 3 wonderfully well adjusted, well behaved big dogs. Maybe you could do some research on how much exercise a JRT needs. I think probably alot but I don't agree that every dog needs to run every day. My guys dream day is to lay on the couch and eat bon bons. I exercise them to keep them healthy but I don't run them. When they are done playing with the frisbee, they take it and go lie down in the far end of the yard like I'm done with that thank you very much. If you think long and hard and want to commit I think you can bring this guy around. You will need to use the crate until he is fully housebroken, you will need to train him, leash him to you and spend time training him. It won't happen unless you make it happen. Do you have kids who would be willing to get on board with the training. My daughter always loves getting into the training because my guys really did learn fast once we started doing the things the trainer told us to do and stopped doing the things we were doing wrong. If in the event you don't feel up to the committment, I think you should not feel badly. He may be more than you bargained for and that doesn't make you a bad person. I guess there is a rescue for JRT's? Someone on this forum must know if there is. If that is a possibility I would rather see him go to a rescue rather than back to the shelter. Lastly, how is he with your other laid back dog. Do they get along or does the new guy growl or act agressive with the established pet? Best of luck to you whichever way you decide to go.

Nice stories, great doggies and kitties, too. We lost our beautiful chow mix, Toby on February 16 (he was 14 years and 7 months old), almost 2 years after losing his dear, sweet litter mate brother, Tibby (he was 12 years and eight months old) We've been heartbroken, sad and both of us are just mopin' around this too empty house. We got Tibby and Toby when they were just 10 days old... we bottle fed them, round the clock, their eyes were still closed and we instantly fell in love with them. It's still hard for me to believe they are gone. We had both of them cremated and they are in beautiful wood boxes with a great picture of them sitting on one and their tiny little first collars with heart shaped name tags, sitting on the other. We knew we would want to save two more litter mates and give them a wonderful life. We found the 2 new pups at a rescue in Mississippi... we are in Boston.... lots of phone calls, lots of pleas for transport help and finally everything came together. They are now, at this very moment, on a flight from Mississippi. They will get here, in Boston, at 7:30 tonight. They got a bath this morning and I'm told they are very, very excited to meet their new Momma and daddy! The rescue was wonderful to work with... not all of them are, most are. This is a pic of our Toby.. I wish I had one for Tibby. Not on this computer. You can see how old he looks, but he was still happy. These pictures were taken in December on the same day. And these are the new babies.. they are 8 weeks old, born on my dearly missed mom's birthday. I'm sure she had a hand in this. My mom's middle name was Bridget... she loved it. But everyone of her kids did not! Not 1 girl grandchild was given the name of Bridget! I don't have any kids.. but I, too, told her ixnay on Bridget if I did! tee hee. Funny how now I think it's such a lovely name. sigh. Her maiden name was Flanagan, so I decided to give her 2 grandkids bearing her name! She would have been thrilled. I'm sure she is! She helped us with the bottle feedings of Tibby & Toby.. she proudly told anyone who would listen, that they were her newest grandkids! We might name Bridget, McBridget...my last name, my Dh (dear honey of 30 years) last name both begin with MC. Still thinkin' on that, though. Bridget is the adorable black girl and Flanagan is the adorable cream colored boy. They weigh 9.6 pounds for Bridget and 9.5 pounds for Flanagan. Sorry these pics are so large. I'm very happy for the Op! Silly